Cornyn urges Akin to withdraw from Mo. race

Rep. Todd Akin, R-Mo., and his wife, Lulli, talk with reporters last Thursday at the Governor's Ham Breakfast at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia

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DNC speakers: Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Sen. John Kerry, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, are among eight prominent Democrats added to the roster of speakers Monday for the Democratic National Convention. Among the other speakers are Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, former Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper. Fundraising: President Barack Obama and Democrats spent more than they brought in last month as the president expanded his campaign operations to compete with rival Mitt Romney. New campaign finance reports out Monday show Obama's campaign spent about $59 million in July. That's compared with about $49.2 million in total receipts during the same period. From wire reports

WASHINGTON - Texas Sen. John Cornyn took the lead in national Republican efforts Monday to force scandal-ravaged congressman Todd Akin to withdraw from the pivotal U.S. Senate race in Missouri.

With Republican strategists and political pundits agreeing that Akin's recent comments about "legitimate rape" had crippled his chances to defeat vulnerable Democratic incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill, Cornyn, the chairman of the Senate Republicans' campaign committee, gave the embattled nominee 24 hours to exit the political stage.

The Senate's Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, all but called for Akin to withdraw. At least two other Republican senators - Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin - called for Akin to end his Senate campaign immediately.

Karl Rove, who has been spending millions of dollars through Crossroads America on behalf of Republican candidates across the country, indicated that he would pull out of Missouri unless Akin stepped down. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus went further in a CNN interview Monday night, saying "if it was me, I would step aside and let someone else run for that office."

Condemnation of Akin also flowed from the presidential campaigns.

Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, called the remarks "insulting, inexcusable and, frankly, wrong." Speaking by telephone to National Review Online, Romney added, "What he said is entirely without merit, and he should correct it."

At the White House, President Barack Obama said, "Rape is rape, and the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we are talking about doesn't make sense to the American people and certainly doesn't make sense to me."

He said Akin's comments showed "why we shouldn't have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women."

Cornyn characterized Akin's statements as "wrong, offensive and indefensible" and gave the Missouri lawmaker 24 hours to "carefully consider what is best for him, his family, the Republican Party and the values that he cares about and has fought for throughout his career in public service."

The Missouri election is the keystone to the GOP's strategy to win a Senate majority in November. Republicans need to pick up four more Senate seats than they lose in 2012 to reach 51 seats, a bare majority in the 100-seat Senate.

If Akin does not withdraw from the race by Tuesday's 5 p.m. CDT deadline, Republicans would face a complicated process to replace him on the ballot later in the year.

The Akin controversy revived Democratic talk of a Republican "war against women." And it highlighted the fact that Akin and vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan had teamed up in 2011 on a failed proposal to curtail abortions that would have narrowed the definition of rape.

Political tempest

Until his self-destructive moment, Akin had been running ahead of McCaskill in polls. Conservative and Republican groups have spent tens of millions of dollars pummeling the Democratic senator with attack ads.

Akin created the political tempest when he told an interviewer that women who experience "a legitimate rape" are unlikely to become pregnant.

"From what I understand from doctors, pregnancy from rape is really rare," Akin said. "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

Akin responded carefully on Monday, saying he had made a "very serious error" but declining to clarify his views on "legitimate rape." As of sundown, the Missouri candidate remained defiant.

"I'm not a quitter," Akin told conservative radio host Mike Huckabee, a former GOP governor of Arkansas who ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008. "By the grace of God, we're going to win this race."